TIME TO RAISE THE ROOF ABOUT THE LACK OF POLITICAL BALANCE IN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS

I have just been out to find a copy of Issue 75 of Coastal View as I have started to advertise for electrical work in it again. It is not distributed where I live but is available from a few reasonably local outlets.

I could not believe my eyes when I looked through it. 17 of its editorial pages had items about the two Labour MPs and various Labour Councillors and that included FIVE full pages and THREE that were at least half pages full of Labour propaganda.

The Lib Dems had ONE item about the possible closure of Laburnum Library sent in by Josh Mason. I accept my item about the proposal to move the books out of Roseberry Library may have been after the deadline for this issue but I understand we sent out a few items that didn't get in.

There are a handful of items concerning Independent Councillors in the popular local paper and a couple of letters from UKIP. Nothing from the Conservatives.

We don't all have the staff paid out of the public purse that MP's have to spend all day writing articles for them but we are involved in quite a lot of things that are just as newsworthy but are ignored by the local media.

Our answer is as always we do the hard work of keeping in touch with our electors ourselves. There are quite a few newsworthy items which go out regularly in my ward newsletter Focus, on this Facebook page, and my blog. They are about local campaigning, holding the Labour Council to account and making proposals for actions that seek to make a difference for local people.

Surely it should not be down to who can afford to pay staff to feed newspapers but it clearly is you know. We no longer have an MP so we expect to have less coverage but what is happening with Labour coverage is not fair at all. Nobody else, as far as I know, is asked to comment on the claims in these Labour biased items.

We do send out press statements as well but very little gets in these days. It seems to me that newspapers no longer even try to provide balanced coverage.

The Gazette, which is Trinity Mirror owned, gave up on balance years ago. They only balance articles critical of Labour but they no longer ask opposition members to quote on items put out by the local Labour Councils.

I am sure it will turn out to be our fault as it always is but I ask myself what would Labour say if one of the other political groups got 17 pages of coverage in one local newspaper? They would raise the roof and never stop going on about it.

Don't let the media men spin any more area confusion

I refer to the recent poll in the local press where the usual media suspects are attempting yet again to impose Teesside upon us.

Last time they split Yorkshire into three versions so it would split the vote to get the Teesside result they wanted and Yorkshire still came out on top. So now they included just two options Teesside or Tees Valley and are claiming overwhelming support for Teesside.

This same bunch of unelected media men have been getting it wrong for decades. The same people have flitted from Teesside to Cleveland to Tees Valley and now they want to impose Teesside upon us again. It is in the vested interests of certain businesses and local media to lump us together as it suits them. It is inappropriate as much of the area is away from the River Tees. It is a rubbish marketing tool that projects the wrong image.

Our major towns are missed off road signs and don't get the publicity they need because of the media obsession with lumping us together. Their only reason is to catch readers/listeners by putting Teesside. For example if you put Saltburn no one in Stockton is interested.

We have a perfect set of names already for our villages, towns and counties we don't need to keep inventing new names.

There is not overwhelming support for Teesside rebranding. People were given only a choice between inappropriate Teesside and the totally inappropriate Tees Valley.

YRS offer to provide Historic North Riding of Yorkshire signs at bridges over River Tees

As Chairman of the Yorkshire Ridings Society (YRS), I have today emailed Councillor Bob Cook, Leader of Stockton Borough Council and Mr Neil Schneider, Chief Executive pointing out that YRS has offered to pay for traditional county signs to be erected at the bridges on the Yorkshire side of the River Tees in the Borough of Stockton.

This was in response to Stockton Labour Candidate, Louise Baldock's call for "Welcome to Yorkshire" signs on the bridges in the Borough of Stockton on Tees.

According to Saturday's Evening Gazette Stockton's Council Leader is willing to consider it following the overwhelming vote of Yarm residents in favour of 24% voted in the Yarm 4 Yorkshire poll last Tuesday 27th May 2014, 1465 'Yes' and 177 'No.' I like to think that they took note of my comments on BBC Tees on Wednesday when I suggested ways they could identify with Yorkshire without re-organising local government in the areas and my recent  blog on the subject.

I wrote to them as follows:

"The Yorkshire Ridings Society has offered to pay for signs to be erected on bridges on the Yorkshire side of the River Tees in the Borough of Stockton on Tees on numerous occasions over the past 10 years. We paid for seven signs to be erected in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland.

"We are delighted the Leader of the Council is now prepared to consider this. We will be happy to discuss with the Council our offer to raise the money to pay for them."

Whilst I think "Welcome to Yorkshire" signs would be a little naff. I hope the Council would agree to have Historic North Riding of Yorkshire signs instead.

Pictured above is one of a number of Historic West Riding of Yorkshire signs erected on all roads on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. These were provided by Yorkshire Ridings Society in partnership with Saddleworth White Rose Society and Friends of Real Lancashire. Former Labour MP Phil Woolas is in the foreground.

Below is a picture of the Lancashire signs which were provided on the opposite side of the road.

Scandal of the Redcar Beacon and the visitors to the toilet

Talking up Redcar by using figures that are based on a lie is dishonest and is counterproductive. It eventually gets found out as it did thanks to Councillor Steve Kay.

To sneer at someone for revealing the truth is a disgrace. All summer long the Council has been reporting visitor figures to the Redcar Beacon that nobody believed were true. There was even a big fuss for 'the 100,000th visitor' without ever saying they were including people who were only there to use the toilet. Thanks to Steve Kay we now know the truth. This is not evidence of increased visitor figures. That many people used the perfectly good toilets that were demolished to make way for this eyesore every year.

Interesting that Labour people are claiming the Evening Gazette should not be reporting this but concentrating on the fact that the Council has agreed to retain the Cabinet system which allows it to ignore residents views and keep us in the dark about the real cost of things.

It is a scandal that these figures were used so much over the summer without explaining that most people were only there to use the toilet. It is a scandal too that we were told the cost of the building was £1.6 million when it is more than £3 million. The public said they didn't want it and were ignored. They will not be happy that the cost is more than double what was claimed.

A pier for Redcar is achievable if the Council, as the development authority, produces a plan and facilitates it. But not if, as appears to be happening with the campaign group, you get grandiose ideas about structures on the end of it and appear willing to accept fake figures produced by the Council as the basis for attracting funding. That is treating the grant providers as idiots and they are not. Nor will the public continue to support a pier if they find the Council's contribution and this could be as much as half, will be endless millions.

A simple pier based on the one at Saltburn is achievable for around £6 million and the Council's contribution to this will be a reasonable amount spread over a long period. With the help of our MP that can happen. If you start producing plans for grandiose schemes Redcar people will say no and people outside the town will be up in arms.

I voted against Rex Hunt's request for Whitby to twin with Port Stanley

A reference in the Evening Gazette today about reporter Mike Morgan's telephone conversation with Sir Rex Hunt shortly before the 1982 Argentinian invasion of the Falklands brought back memories of my own involvement in what I think were the events which led to Mike Morgan making the call.

Mike (pictured right) was then a reporter on the Whitby Gazette and I was a member of Whitby Town Council.

I think Mike was prompted to make the call to His Excellency Mr Rex Hunt, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Falkland Islands and dependencies in response to a letter Mr Hunt (who had yet to be knighted) had sent to Whitby Town Council expressing his concern about the Tory Government's cost cutting measure to remove the British warship that was protecting the islands. He suggested a town twinning arrangement between Whitby and Falkland Islands capital Port Stanley due to the fact that both towns had whale bone arches. He felt it would help to maintain links with Great Britain.

All the members of the Town Council were delighted to form a twinning arrangement with Port Stanley except for me. I felt it was a pointless exercise as it was so far away and it was not possible for exchange visits to take place. 

The twinning arrangement went ahead and a ceremony took place in the Pannett Art Gallery in Whitby in August 1981. I am pretty sure that Rex Hunt himself actually attended this. Whitby Town Council could always do a good ceremony and the food was always nice.

Little did I know that some months after voting against the twinning arrangement Argentina would invade the Falklands, Rex Hunt would become a hero and pictures of the sign Port Stanley twinned with Whitby would be seen all over the world.

The decision to twin with Port Stanley turned out to be a very astute decision indeed and one that I got wrong. It did as Sir Rex Hunt said it would. It helped to strengthen the links between Great Britain and the Falkland Islands.

Whitby went on to twin with a number of faraway towns which had links with Captain Cook:

Anchorage, Alaska, USA 
Cooktown, Australia 
East Fremantle, Australia 
Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii, USA 
Nuku’alofa, Tonga 
Porirua, Whitby, New Zealand 
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands 
West Wylong, Australia 
Whitby, Ontario, Canada 
Whitilanga, New Zealand 

I remember one Town Councillor piping up in support of twinning with Nuku'alofa: "The Queen of Tonga looked so lovely at the Coronation in 1953." 

I wanted the town to twin with a European town where exchange visits could take place. An editorial in the Whitby Gazette actually supported this too. I still think the town should have gone in for a different type of arrangement with these places so that those who like meeting people could enjoy the benefits that town twinning brings. It became quite a curiosity that Whitby was twinned with such faraway places and that in itself has earned the town a lot of publicity. 

Sir Rex Hunt who was born in Redcar and attended Sir William Turner's School, flew Spitfires in the RAF before a career in the diplomatic service. He retired as Governor of the Falkland Islands in 1985 and settled in Stockton, where he died aged 86.

Time the Evening Gazette stopped the Labour bias

The posting immediately below this one, dated 22nd February 2010, is a press statement from Ian Swales Prospective Lib Dem MP for Redcar calling for the Corus site to be nationalised.

The press statement was ignored by the Evening Gazette who today publish a front page lead reporting that Stockton Labour MP Dari Taylor has called for the Corus site to be nationalised. Ian's press statement points out that a letter was emailed to Peter Mandelson.

On 18th December this blog reported that Ian Swales had produced a detailed plan outlining a positive future for Corus, which was also ignored by the Gazette until early in the new year. This plan was also emailed to Peter Mandelson.

Are local MP's being passed on these ideas by Mandelson's office?

Why is it that the Evening Gazette concentrates only on the platitudes of local Labour MP's and ignores the positive ideas being put forward FIRST by Ian Swales?

More or Bore 3

Posted by Chris:
My third and final More or Bore column has appeared in the Evening Gazette today:
THERE was quite a fuss last week when Gordon Brown met with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao because the Union flag was displayed upside down. It was pointed out that when flown upside down on a ship this is a sign of distress. So maybe it was appropriate at this time of recession.
There is just as much fuss when the Yorkshire rose is displayed the wrong way round. Football clubs are the worst offenders. Doncaster Rovers, Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United all include the white rose in their club badge but only Doncaster displays it the correct way round.
Actually, there is no official way to display the rose but tradition dictates that in the North and West Ridings there should be two sepals (points) at the top and one at the bottom to form a 'Y' for Yorkshire. In Lancashire the red rose flag is displayed the other way round. Legend has it that leading families in the East Riding supported the Duke of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses so the rose is displayed point upwards, the Lancashire way.
The Yorkshire Ridings Society has obtained a stock of the newly registered Yorkshire flag. Details can be found on our web-site www.yorkshire ridings.org
For years I wondered why fish and chips did not taste as good to me as they did when I was growing up in Harrogate. It was only in recent years that I realised why. I never specified the type of fish. In the West Riding you simply asked for one of each and round here you ask for fish and chips. For some strange reason in Leeds and the surrounding area chip shops mainly serve haddock but on the east coast and Sheffield it is cod. Why is this?
When my wife Glynis and I started to go fishing at Woodlands Lakes in Carlton Miniott or at the Oaks in Sessay we used to stop for fish and chips in Thirsk on the way back. These always seem to taste better to me and it was then I noticed that it was haddock not cod.
Glynis has become quite skilled at fishing but will only go if there are decent facilities. That is something we are short of in this area. She always seems to catch bigger fish than me. Her personal bests for chub, carp and bream are better than mine, though I hold the family record for the biggest perch, almost four pounds caught on the Swale.
We have had a number of trips to the famous Royalty Fishery at Christ Church in recent years attempting to capture some of the legendary specimen barbel. So far we have failed to net one over a pound but Glynis caught a chub of five pounds last year. Even if we don't catch anything it is always a nice day out, especially if the day ends with fish and chips.
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More or Bore 2

My second More or Bore column has appeared in the Evening Gazette tonight. Thank you to those who voted last week for more...
CHRIS Abbott, chairman of the Yorkshire Ridings Society and a member of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, returns for a second week.
I WAS born in Harrogate and as I reached my teenage years Don Revie’s Leeds United team were just beginning to come good. By the time I attended my first match aged 14 they were the top side in Yorkshire.
My grandad was a lifelong supporter of the club and that season they reached the FA Cup final for the first time.
To sit and watch it with him in his living room was just as exciting as it was at Wembley in later years when I stood with my father and brothers cheering ourselves hoarse.
I had watched my first game at Elland Road on March 14, 1965. Leeds United beat Burnley 5-1, with big Jack Charlton scoring two of the goals.
I was hooked and throughout the rest of the 1960s and early Seventies I hardly missed a match.
We were proud of our status as the best team in Yorkshire and United fans loved to let people know about it.
We did not come across Middlesbrough much, if at all, during those years and our chief North-east rivals were Sunderland. In recent years, Leeds United’s bid to buy back the glory years has sent us spiralling into the third division. Since then Middlesbrough have been the top Yorkshire side, that is until Hull City began its first ever season in the top flight, though they seem to be on the slide of late.
With a five million population, the same size as Scotland and twice the size of Wales, the bragging rights to being Yorkshire’s No 1 side are not insignificant and far exceed that of being the best in the North-east. It is the perfect response to the Mackems’ tag that Middlesbrough is just "a small town in Yorkshire".
Why is it then that Boro have not promoted themselves as Yorkshire’s No 1? I suspect two main reasons are:
1. Boro’s fan base stretches across the Tees into Durham and the powers that be at the club prefer to refer to the area as Teesside.
2. The confusion caused by frequent changes in local government administration.
Middlesbrough is still south of the River Tees and is on Teesside but Teesside is not a county. Our real county still remains as the North Riding of Yorkshire. This has nothing to do with local government and is quite separate. We still have a North Riding County Football Association.
The Ridings of Yorkshire were not abolished by local government changes. Neither the Parliamentary Act of 1974 nor 1992 had any effect on them. Governments, legal experts and many other reputable bodies all agree.
Where would cricket be if we no longer had our real counties? The answer is to accept that England’s 39 geographic counties still legally remain for all cultural, ceremonial, sporting and postal purposes.
When Boro overtake Hull, as I know they soon will, they can say, without fear of contradiction, they are Yorkshire’s No 1.
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More or Bore?

Posted by Chris:

I wrote the following which appeared in the Evening Gazette's 'More or Bore' column tonight:
MY wife Glynis and I hosted a meeting of the Association of British Counties (ABC) in Redcar recently. We wondered what a town still waiting for its promised regeneration had to offer visitors on a blustery cold Saturday in October.
The Committee usually meets twice per year in Warwickshire or Cheshire and holding it in the far northeast corner of the North Riding of Yorkshire meant a much longer journey for many members. But we needn’t have worried. It was the "stunning" scenery around the town that people mentioned when they arrived at the Nine 0 Club in West Dyke Road.
Fuelled by Glynis’s piping hot homemade soup, a number of members just had to walk down and have a look at the sea during the lunch break.
A digitised map of the historic counties has been produced and can be downloaded www.county-borders.co.uk in Google Earth (KMZ) format and Arcview Shape (SHP) format.
It is fascinating looking at this on Google Earth, where a thin red line shows the county borders. Looking at where the Yorkshire/Lancashire border cuts through Todmorden Cricket Ground I am sure that you can make out the ‘scorch’ marks in the earth where the original hedge or ditch marking the boundary used to be.
By far the most interesting discussion at our meeting was about county flags. Members discussed how they could encourage each of England’s 39 historic counties to register county flags. Many have already done so and some have established designs. But how do you decide what the design should be and who should set the ball rolling? The Flag Institute will only register real counties, not regions, sub regions or administrative areas.
The Lincolnshire flag was chosen by listeners to BBC Radio Lincolnshire. The Westmorland flag has a white background with an apple tree design in the middle and two red bars across the centre but who is the appropriate body to register it? This was a problem that ABC agonised over at its meeting in Redcar.
We had learned at the previous meeting, in Coventry, that the Friends of Real Lancashire had tried to register the traditional red rose on a white background flag of the County Palatine but were turned down by the Flag Institute because a flag of that design had already been registered by Montrose. They had to settle for a red rose on a yellow background design.
First thing the following Monday morning the Yorkshire Ridings Society (YRS) contacted the Flag Institute. They accepted that the YRS was an appropriate organisation and that the white rose on a blue background flag was in general use in Yorkshire and beyond.
There followed an official ceremony in Hull just before Yorkshire Day involving the Lord Mayor. In early January 2009 the YRS is handing over the Yorkshire flag to the Lord Mayor of York at a ceremony in the Guildhall where it will take its place alongside the Union Flag and the flag of St George.
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Labour Cabinet proposes stringent cuts in services but has plenty to spend on Town Hall that is due for demolition

Spending £125,000 on the soon to be demolished Redcar & Cleveland Town Hall and Finegan Hall, whilst making stringent cuts in public services is like putting new tyres on a car just to tow it to the scrapyard.

The Council's Labour cabinet have done just that at a time when they are faced with slashing millions of pounds from the Council's budget.

What do the Labour Cabinet think they are playing at? According to the latest Cabinet Business papers, to be considered at the Cabinet meeting on 22nd January, they plan to include the following popular public services as part of a series of cuts totaling £5.5m:

• Slash £112.700 from the Library service
• increase the charge for junk jobs from £10 to £15
• remove all bring sites
• end the 'bring out your dross' scheme
• slash maintenance on play equipment
• introduce charges for green box replacement
• cease winter flower bedding
• reduce funding for supporting people and housing efficiency
• cut grants to voluntary organisations
  

The former Coalition spent four years building up and improving public services, which earned us four star excellent status, but within one year the Labour Council are poised to wreck much of this good work with stringent cuts in public services that will surely send the Council back to the bad old pre-Coalition days when we were a failing Council.

UPDATE 15/1/08: We have received an anonymous comment referring to the allegations of a £12million black hole in the council's funding that the Labour leader claimed was left by the Lib Dem led Coalition in office until May last year. This claim was retracted a couple of days later and a full account can be read here.

We have not published the comment because it contains what we consider may be libelous remarks. As pointed out many times before, we are not prepared to publish anonymous comments which we consider are offensive about anyone, including ourselves. Nor do we publish comments from fake names either. On more than one occasion we have received comments from people using the same fake names that we see regularly in the Evening Gazette letters page.

Canoe man and his family are starting to remember what happened

Posted by Chris:

Back from the dead canoe man, John Darwin, who is currently being interviewed a mile or so up the road from here, at Redcar & Cleveland police headquarters, in Kirkleatham Business Park, used the name John Jones and travelled freely in and out of Britain, according to tonight's Evening Gazette report.

It seems he is just starting to remember what happened to him after his disappearance, five years ago, that started a 200sq mile sea search, costing £70,000 and lasting several days.

A boat dealer has come forward to claim that Darwin put down a £1000 deposit on a £45,000 boat, paid for out of his wife's bank account and gave his address as the family home at Seaton Carew.

The most curious thing is that Mrs Darwin, having first denied knowing that her husband was still alive, then admitted she knew when a picture of the couple, taken last year, came to light. Her response was that her sons would never forgive her, followed quickly by a statement from her sons publicly disowning her. They have now reportedly left their homes.

This is why we said "Labour can't be trusted"

One of Redcar Liberal Democrats slogans, during the Council elections in May was: "Labour can't be trusted."

They had spent the past four years promising everything to everyone. Their leader on Redcar & Cleveland Council practiced opposition for opposition's sake. He jumped onto every populist bandwagon and often opposed things his own pre-2003 administration had set in motion.

The Evening Gazette's letters column was filled with one paragraph sound-bites, supporting the Labour stance, many of which were in the names of people we suspect do not exist (and here and here).

Listed below are just some of the issues where Labour have shown that what they say in opposition is different to what they do in control:

The Lib Dem led Coalition 2003 -2007 took many difficult decisions that lifted the Council from being rated as only 'fair' when we took over in 2003 and to 'four star excellent' within three years.

Coatham Links

When we took over in 2003 the previous Labour administration had appointed Persimmon Homes as the preferred developer and the scheme was launched by Councillor George Dunning just prior to the 2003 elections.

Cllr Dunning became Labour Group leader after the election and aided by Labour MP, Vera Baird, Labour flip flopped this way and that over the scheme and encouraged a very nasty campaign by a small group of protesters.

No sooner had they won back control but they were all for it (and here and here).

Closure of Eston Town Hall and James Finegan Hall

The Coalition were faced with the task of what to do about the Poulson designed 1960's town hall at Eston and Finegan Hall alongside it. The previous Labour administration had cut the Council's maintenance budget years before, to prop up their "no compulsory redundancy" policy and claw their way back from having the second highest Council tax in the land. Both buildings were in need of major investment and are unsuitable for 21st century local government.

The Coalition decided it was much more economical to provide a new civic hall in the more accessible centre of Redcar, rather than have main council services split over three main towns. The Audit Commission had criticised the previous Labour Council for this inefficient set up. Moving the town hall to Redcar would reduce travelling for staff and make it more accessible to the borough's residents.

Although we promised that a brand new replacement for Finegan Hall would be built before the hall was closed a group of dancers launched a campaign against the closure plans. Councillor George Dunning, the council's Labour Group leader, backed the protesters. Over and over again he was reported as saying: "Our position is that when we get back control in 2007 we will keep open the James Finegan Hall and refurbish it along with the Town Hall." Read more here and here.

No sooner are they back in control than they have now voted to do exactly what the Coalition had planned. They have done a complete u-turn. It is interesting that they held the Cabinet meeting in Saltburn, far away from Eston.

Councillors Allowances

In opposition Councillor Dunning went on and on about Councillors allowances complaining that Redcar & Cleveland's allowances were higher than other neighbouring Councils. But at yesterday's cabinet he said "Tees Valley Councils need to catch up with us" as they voted to go on with the current system.

Land at Church Lane

Councillor Dunning and his deputy. Councillor Sheelagh Clarke, led the opposition to the Coalition Cabinet's plan to sell a small section of land, alongside the town hall, to Tees Valley Housing Group. This would provide some much needed homes in the area and in particular provide more options for people moving out of the South Bank renewal area, whilst at the same time preserving a substantial area of green space.

Labour twice managed to win the vote to reject the proposals at planning committee but Tees Valley Housing Group appealed and this was upheld by the Government Inspector.

On taking control Labour still had the choice of not selling the land to Tees Valley, and thereby preventing the houses being built. Councillor Dunning promised in this letter that this is what he would do.

But yesterday, in far away Saltburn, the Labour cabinet voted to hand over the land and allow the houses to be built. They have achieved exactly the same outcome as the previous Coalition Cabinet had attempted to arrive at.

The new Labour Cabinet have shown once again that they say one thing in opposition and do exactly the opposite in control. They owe the residents who trusted them to do what they promised a most humble apology.

Rumble under Redcar - was it an earthquake?

People have been phoning BBC Tees after feeling an earth shaking rumble in Redcar today. Glynis thinks it might have been a jet flying over but I think it was the postman dropping letters to the editor of the Evening Gazette from the Labour leader of Redcar & Cleveland Council.

Lib Dem challenge to Labour Council

Posted by Chris:

In view of the adverse publicity in the Evening Gazette and the damage it may have done to the reputation of this Council and its professional officers, Glyn Nightingale and I have written to the Director of Finance and Procurement and the District Auditor to request that a Section 151 report is produced as a matter of urgency and presented to a special meeting of the Council.

The report should outline the current financial pressures, explain the allegations of financial mismanagement made by the Council Leader and set out the details of what exactly the alleged £12m “black hole” amounts to as reported in the Evening Gazette.

I am concerned that in one day the reputation of the Council and its professional officers, so patiently built back up over the past seven years, since the days when it produced the second highest Council Tax in the land, has been destroyed. The silly allegations and misrepresentations made by Leader of the Council simply will not stand up to scrutiny and it is vital that members are provided with the real facts.

On Friday 20 July we heard from the Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, that his administration have “a £12m black hole.” By Tuesday 24 July we read in the same paper that a proper Budget for 2007-8 is in place, the previous one had balanced with cash to spare going into reserves and the cash crisis was actually in the future.

Clearly they got elected, by the narrowest of margins, making promises to cut Council Tax and have found that their own Government, with its enforced economies and unfair allocation of grants, have made this impossible, so they invent a cash crisis as a way to deflect the blame when they put the Council Tax up.

It has clearly backfired on them, hence the rapid back peddling in the Gazette on Tuesday. They obviously didn't realise the effect it would have on the reputation of not just the politicians but also on the Council's professional staff who advise them, allowing the nasty smearmongers free rein. The Liberal Democrats election warning that Labour cannot be trusted has been confirmed within weeks of the election.

The amazing thing about all this is that £5m of the £12m is the cost of implementing Labour's over the top election promises and nothing at all to do with the Coalition and the past four years. This year the Labour Government gave £7.1m less than justified by its own assessment of needs. Next year Government financial stringency is likely to put even more pressure on Council finances.

Council demands a fair allocation of development support

Posted by Chris:

The nonsense in today's edition of the Evening Gazette criticising our withdrawal of funding from Tees Valley Regeneration needs proper explanation:

We have agreed not to pay £50,000 towards the costs of two project officers.

We have already paid out a quarter of a million pounds to this organisation over the past four years and they have not promoted a single project in our Borough. The organisation is concentrating its efforts in the area between Middlesbrough and Stockton. They refused to support Coatham Links but expect us to back Middlehaven, which we are happy to do, but they must treat us equally and there is a view amongst our officers and members that this is not happening.

We have not pulled out of the organisation but have fired a warning shot that we are not prepared to continue being ignored and that we demand investment in our Borough.

We have today fiercely defended our position in what was one of the best debates the Council has had for a long time. We took advice from our officers and I hope that our points will be put across when the Gazette reports on the debate.

It has absolutely nothing to do with our promotion of the area as part of Yorkshire, as the opposition are claiming. We have to work with the Tees Valley organisations and the North East for economic development and strategic planning purposes and do so willingly, but we are not prepared to waste public money funding staff who are doing nothing for our area.

Councillor Glyn Nightingale is leading on this for the Coalition.

Labour and Independents desperate rush to claim credit for Eston precinct is premature

Letters from rival Labour and Independent Councillors in Eston and Teesville wards in the Evening Gazette have suggested that they have had contact with a company who wish to redevelop Eston Precinct.

The Council has twice written to the prospective developers asking them to provide details of their business plan and how they will finance the purchase of the existing properties and businesses on the site. A meeting that was due to take place this week, between the Council and the proposed developers, had to be cancelled when it was learned that they do not have a business plan for the site.

The Council is unable to talk about the feasibility of development proposals that we have not yet been formally advised about. We are happy to help to facilitate any plan to redevelop the Eston Precinct, which is a privately owned development, but we need to know that it can be financed and is sustainable.

There have been too many red herrings thrown in over the past couple of years, due to the bitter and senseless rivalry between Councillors in the Eston and Teesville wards and it does nobody any good when they are each rushing to claim credit for development proposals that may not amount to anything. Premature claims can also put off other potential investors.

The Council is committed to finding a suitable developer for the precinct and we hope the latest proposal is not another cruel hoax in the run up to an election.

Coatham beach is not closed

The Evening Gazette has today published a letter claiming that the Council has closed Coatham beach to walkers and dog walkers. There is not one word of truth in this.

Spoof letters - the plot thickens

Posted by Chris.

Whoever it is that is behind the spoof letters in the local Evening Gazette and Northern Echo that I referred to in my posting "beware of wolves in sheeps clothing," on 17th July, has sent in a comment to this blog pretending to be from one the names used.

The comment was as follows: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen Chris."

That seems like an admission to me that something is wrong. I strongly suspect that someone is indulging in a campaign to mislead the public for political gain. They may think it is OK to fill the letters pages of local papers with spoof letters to mislead the public. I think it is dishonest and corrupt.

If this person/persons would like to contact me, other than anonymously, and proves that he/she actually exists, I will be delighted to meet with them and discuss the issues they raise.

However, it is beyond belief that there are such a high number of correspondents, to these newspapers, that are clearly interested in local politics but are not on the electoral register. The other odd thing is that no one in their areas has heard of them either. Do they pay Council Tax?

Most of these letters refer to the Council Tax as if they did pay it so they should also be registered electors.

Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing

Posted by Chris

Over the past two or three years the local Evening Gazette and Northern Echo has printed a series of similar letters repeating over and over again the same misleading one sentence "soundbites" that Labour Councillors spout on Redcar & Cleveland Council.

The strange thing is that these letters are alleged to be written by residents of Redcar, Brotton and Skelton that nobody seems to know. They also do not appear on the electoral register.

County Confusion

Posted by Chris

Though many people are unaware of the fact, it is a fact that the Ridings of Yorkshire were not abolished by local government changes. Neither the Parliamentary Act of 1974 nor 1992 had any effect on them. Governments, legal experts and many other reputable bodies all agree. This is not an accident. Parliament has repeatedly decided over the last two centuries to separate local government and the traditional counties.

The counties developed in different ways in different parts of Britain. The Ridings of Yorkshire are amongst the earliest. The first recorded reference to the Ridings appears in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles of 876, nine years after the Viking conquest of the area. But some parts of the boundaries can be traced to 735 and may go back to Roman times. Riding is probably derived from a Norse word meaning a third part. It may come from an Old English origin meaning a thirding. Actually, Yorkshire has four parts since the ancient City of York (within the walls) is in no Riding.

There is much confusion about the status of Counties. This never need happen if you accept the truth that the North Riding still exists because it was never abolished. It would not happen if people understood the statements made by Government every time local government re-organisation has taken place.

“These changes are for local government purposes only. For all other purposes Yorkshire is still Yorkshire.” This statement has been repeated often by ministers of both Conservative and Labour Governments.

Then there was the statement by John Major in 1992: “This re-organisation of local government is an opportunity for people to reclaim the Ridings of Yorkshire.”

Much of the confusion is caused by vested interests:

The press and media are the worst offenders. Our local paper, the Evening Gazette, uses the word Teesside at the start of virtually every local article nowadays. In fact up to the 1960’s, if you read back copies, the word was used rarely and was spelt with a hyphen. They use Teesside as a catchword, to encourage people to read an article. It covers their readership area and they know if they put the name of the town instead, only those who live there are interested.

Businesses and local groups take the names of Local Government areas for some reason and stick to them when they have been changed. This adds to the confusion. Since 1967 we have had local government under the following names in Redcar - North Riding County Council, Teesside County Borough, Cleveland County Council, Langbaurgh Borough Council, Langbaurgh on Tees Borough Council and now Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. Companies and organisations have been named after them all and they often don't bother to change when local government is re-organised. For example we still have Cleveland Police, Langbaurgh Division even though both local government areas were officially abolished in 1996.

By using Yorkshire to describe where you live and the name of your town it identifies clearly where you live. Local government can be reorganised as often as you wish and you still retain your identity.

Regional Government, if it ever materialises, is very likely to result in the abolition of administrative counties and their replacement with unitiaries, like in this area. Where would cricket be if it was accepted that we no longer had any counties?

The answer is to accept that England’s 39 geographic counties should remain for all cultural, ceremonial, sporting and postal purposes. It is so simple and costs nothing. We get a stable geography, easily identified by clear, natural boundaries and forever afterwards if the bureaucrats at Whitehall decide that we need to alter local government boundaries nobody feels that they have lost their indenity. Real county boundaries can be shown on maps along with whatever local government boundaries exist at the time.

Redcar & Cleveland Council have recognised this and for the past three years it uses Yorkshire as part of its postal address. We have joined the Yorkshire Tourist Board and hold a Yorkshire Day Festival in Redcar, each year over the closest weekend to Yorkshire Day, which falls on 1st August.